Stretch Your Gambling Dollars 
by Tom Hawks
September 2003

When it comes to spending your entertainment dollars, you want to spend them wisely and make your money stretch as far as it will go. In today's economy, discretionary income for most people is limited, so you want to get as much bang for your entertainment buck as is possible.

Gambling has always been a popular pastime in the United States. The Mississippi riverboats and old west poker parlors are a well-documented part of this country's history. Some might even argue that this country was founded on gambling. After all, wasn't Christopher Columbus taking a gamble when he sailed across the ocean blue in 1492? However, until recent years, legalized gambling was limited to the states of Nevada and New Jersey. It wasn't until the 1990s that casino gaming began to spread across this country and became a more widely socially accepted form of entertainment.

Today, casino gaming competes for your entertainment dollar with the restaurant industry, the movie industry, professional sporting events, theme parks, music concerts and live theatre, just to name a few.

WHAT CASINOS SELL

When it comes to competing with the above-mentioned industries, casinos share a common disadvantage. A casino doesn't sell or offer any tangible product or service. Sure, at most gaming properties you will find additional customer amenities attached to the casino such as hotels, restaurants, bars and retail stores, and these venues do offer the guest specific products or services. But what does the gaming floor of the casino itself offer to a patron? What brings the customers in?

The answer is fantasy. A casino offers the customer an escape from the everyday world; an escape from his or her humdrum, boring day-to-day routine; a place where dreams of striking it rich can and do come true; a place where you can set aside your troubles and be pampered like a high roller, if only just for a few hours. Most of all, a casino sells the gamble - a chance to wager on the next round of cards to be dealt, the next roll of the dice, the next spin of the roulette wheel or the next spin of the slot reels.  

HOW CASINOS MAKE MONEY

How can the casinos afford to lay the lavish carpet and hang the million-dollar crystal chandeliers, you ask? The answer is simple. They do not offer an even game. They tailor the rules of the game in their favor, underpay statistical outcomes or charge a commission on winning bets (frequently called "vig," which is short for vigorish, or "juice" in casino parlance). Think about it, when a casino wins a bet, it receives 100% of the winnings. When a casino loses a bet, it receives a commission. This is the only way for casinos to keep their doors open. If the casinos offered an even game and gave the customer a 50-50 chance of winning, they would soon be out of business due to lack of a bankroll. Some high roller would come along with a suitcase full of money and proceed to wipe them out.

In the casino business, designing the rules of the games to favor the house, underpaying outcomes or charging a commission to ensure a profit on the games is known as "house advantage." House advantage can be defined as the built-in mathematical edge that the casino creates in its favor in every game. House advantage is commonly expressed as a percentage. To be more precise, house advantage is expressed as the percentage of every dollar wagered by the player that the house theoretically will win. For example, in roulette, the house advantage on most bets is 5.26%. If you were to place a dollar on red each time the wheel is spun, the house advantage predicts that, on average, you will lose 5.26 cents per dollar bet in the long run.

Here is another way to explain house advantage using the same game. A roulette wheel has 38 individual numbers on which the player can place a bet. Therefore, the statistically fair payout for placing a bet straight up on a number would be 37 to 1. However, the casino will only pay you 35 to 1 if you win the bet. The two units kept by the casino on the winning payout is the built-in house advantage, the vig charged to the customer for playing the game. 

EXAMPLES OF CASINO HOUSE ADVANTAGES

The house advantage on specific games can vary depending on the different types of bets a player makes and/or the player's knowledge of correct playing strategy (in other words, if the player is a novice or an expert). The following is a list of house advantage ranges for some popular casino games.

• Blackjack - -2% to 10% 
• Craps - 1.402% to 17% 
• Roulette - 5.26% to 7.9% 
• Baccarat - 1.17% to 14%
• Caribbean Stud - 5.2% to 6% or more 
• Let It Ride - 2.8% to 3% or more 
• Big 6 Wheel - 11% to 22%
• Video Poker - -0.01% to 8% or more 
• Slots - 0.01% to 10% or more

LOWERING THE HOUSE ADVANTAGE AND IMPROVING YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING

So how do you lower the house advantage and improve your chances of winning? The answer is based on the following four things:

1. Bankroll
2. Knowledge of the game
3. Money management
4. Discipline

Three of these four things are pretty self-explanatory, so we don't need to spend a lot of time on them. As far as bankroll goes, you have to make sure you have the proper amount of bankroll for the game that you are playing. For example, you wouldn't go play the $5 slots with a total session bankroll of $25, would you? If you did, you'd quickly run out of money and spend the rest of your trip window shopping in the gift shop. You need to bring enough of a bankroll to be able to withstand negative outcomes and fluctuations. You also have to manage your money wisely, and be disciplined enough not to over-bet and quit when you're ahead.

Your knowledge of the game is by far the most important aspect of improving your chances of winning, or, at least, lessening your chances of losing. Gaining knowledge of the games is easy and fun. Simply study, learn and play the games that offer the lowest house advantage and the best chances at coming away a winner. There are tons of excellent casino gaming books on the market that can help you increase your knowledge. There are also many fine print magazine publications (such as the one that you're reading now) and Internet websites that offer excellent information on learning proper strategy for playing casino games. Many casinos even offer free gaming instruction classes at their properties for novice players.

TIPS FOR STRETCHING YOUR GAMING DOLLAR

If you like playing table games, consider learning and playing only the games that offer the lowest house advantage. Or, if you must play some of the table games with a high house advantage, at least try to only place the smarter bets on these games. For example, if you like to play blackjack, memorize proper basic strategy to lower the house edge to about 0.5%. If you want to take your studying even further, learn how to count cards. A professional card counter can actually turn the house advantage into a player advantage of approximately 2%.

If craps is your game, stay away from the "proposition" bets area of the layout. Some of these wagers can cost you as much as a 17% house advantage. Stick with the bets with the lowest house edge such as a don't pass or a don't come bet (1.402% H/A), a pass line or a come bet (1.414% H/A), or a place bet on the #6 or #8 (1.52% H/A).

On roulette, consider only making "outside" wagers. These are the bets on red/black, even/odd, high/low (1-18 or 19-36), dozens or column bets. Don't place the only 5-numbered bet on the layout (a bet on the 0, 00, 1, 2, 3) known as a modified line bet or top line bet, as this bet carries a heavy house advantage of 7.9%.

If baccarat or mini-baccarat is more your cup of tea, betting on the bank hand (1.16% H/A) or the player's hand (1.37% H/A) is a smart bet. However, don't waste your time betting on a tie, as this bet has a house edge of 14%.

For those of you who are diehard fans of the poker game variations, such as Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride, Three Card Poker and the like, I offer the following advice: learn the proper playing strategies, and enjoy these games for their entertainment value. But remember, they are high house advantage games that offer you little chance of winning in the long run. However, if lady luck is on your side, you may just strike it rich in the short term.

For those of you who are mysteriously drawn to the Big 6 Wheel in your favorite casino, I have only one word of advice: run.

If you enjoy playing the slots, take the time to read the paytables located on each machine, as some types of machines pay better than others. Also, consider the fact that, historically, most casinos offer higher payback percentages and a lower house edge on their higher denomination machines (i.e., quarter machines tend to be set at a higher payback percentage than nickels, $1 machines tend to be set at a higher payback percentage than quarters, $5 slots tend to be set at a higher payback percentage than dollars, etc.). So, if you have the bankroll, it may be worth your while to take a shot at the next higher denomination than you currently play.

Even better advice for slot players is to learn proper strategy for playing video poker. An expert video poker player can drop the house edge on this game to just about zero and, in some playing conditions, actually enjoy a slight advantage over the house.  

Most importantly, remember that casino gaming is a form of entertainment and should be thought of as a fun and enjoyable way to spend an afternoon or an evening with friends or family. Losing next month's rent check or the money that you had saved for groceries is not fun.

If you take the time to increase your knowledge about the games you play, your discretionary income can be money well spent for your entertainment purposes. Just remember to bet intelligently and responsibly, so the casino house advantage doesn't eat away too much of your gaming dollars. Knowledge beats luck every time. Bet on it. 

• Tom Hawks is the director of surveillance at a Midwestern casino, and a frequent contributor to Midwest Gaming & Travel.

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